American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals

Public education and communications essential to the aspca's mission is raising awareness about its programs and educating the public on how people and organizations can engage in protecting animals from cruelty and ensuring all animals live good lives. In 2024, aspca.org received over 38 million views, informing millions of supporters and the public about effective actions they can take on behalf of animals. Additionally, the aspca sent advocacy emails to more than 1.4 million supporters, urging them to take action on various animal welfare issues. With the help of these advocates, the aspca secured new animal protection laws and regulatory wins both in the nation's capital and across state and local legislatures. The aspca distributed print and digital copies of its member magazine, aspca action, to over 740,000 households, with 440,000 copies in digital format. Aspca action provides information on aspca programs, events and pet care tips. It also includes legislative and animal advocacy news to keep members informed about current and future initiatives and how they can help ensure animals receive necessary protection. This magazine is available on the aspca website, along with many additional educational resources for the public. Social media engagement is a key part of the aspca's education process and motivates the public to take action to help improve the lives of animals. Aspca content on social media generated more than 420 million impressions in 2024. The public was updated on actions they could take, including writing legislative letters, donating critical supplies and resources, adopting, fostering, and supporting their local shelters. The aspca also engaged numerous celebrities and social media influencers to support its lifesaving efforts in 2024, including celebrities like edie falco, dave bautista, drew barrymore, eric mccormack, bellamy young, martha stewart, anjelica huston, and andy cohen, and influencers including the dodo, izzy the frenchie, doug the pug, my foster kittens, taryn delanie, and life equestrian, who contributed their voices to increase awareness and drive action around the aspca's program for dogs, cats, horses, and farm animals in need. In 2024, the aspca appeared in more than 29,000 media stories sharing important information about animal protection and care, including 2,215 media placements in outlets such as abc news, the associated press, cbs news, cnn, fox news, good morning america, the hill, the new york times, nbc news, time magazine, today, usa today, the wall street journal, and the washington post.

Policy, response, and engagement programs (pre) policy, response, and engagement programs (pre) include the behavioral rehabilitation center (nc), the cruelty recovery center (oh), the aspca learning lab (nc), national field response, legal advocacy & investigations; humane law enforcement (which includes the aspca-new york city police department partnership, community engagement work in nyc, and the forensic sciences team), farm animal welfare, the aspca puppy mill initiative, behavioral science team, aspca grants (which serve both svs and pre projects), and government relations (covering federal, state, and local levels). 2024 pre highlights responding to and rescuing animals in crisis the aspca provides extensive support in response to emergencies that threaten the lives and welfare of animals nationwide, responding to requests for assistance from law enforcement, emergency management authorities and animal welfare agencies. These emergencies include large-scale animal cruelty cases and natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. The aspca offers expertise in cruelty investigations and hands-on operational planning and rescue, facilitating positive outcomes for many animals. In 2024, aspca rescue teams deployed to arkansas, california, florida, georgia, louisiana, mississippi, nebraska, new jersey, new mexico, new york, north carolina, oklahoma, pennsylvania, south carolina & texas. Cruelty & disaster response in 2024, aspca teams deployed to 15 states, impacting more than 43,000 animals affected by cruelty, neglect, or disasters. These teams provided a wide range of services including investigative and legal support, operational planning and animal rescue, evidence documentation and collection, forensic exams, medical care, emergency and long-term sheltering, food distribution, behavioral treatment and enrichment and placement. In 2024, one of the team's largest and most in-depth disaster response efforts was to support communities and aspca facilities and teams impacted by hurricane helene. With two locations and approximately 200 aspca employees located within the impacted area, aspca operations in the area were paused while the organization evacuated animals and joined local response efforts. In addition to supporting local rescue and care efforts, the aspca also launched a $3 million grant for disaster relief funding to organizations helping animals affected by hurricanes helene and milton. The aspca has a three-pronged approach to helping communities respond to disasters. First, the disaster response team assists nationwide with the relocation, search-and-rescue, sheltering, and placement of animals during disasters such as wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. This rescue work also helps local agencies effectively address animal welfare crises they might not otherwise manage. For cruelty and neglect cases, aspca legal advocacy experts support law enforcement, prosecutors, and animal welfare professionals with legal support, training, and consultations to aid in animal cruelty investigations and prosecutions. Aspca subject matter experts also provide testimony in cruelty case court proceedings. Additionally, the aspca works with lawmakers to enhance disaster planning and response efforts by incorporating animals into emergency plans, thus preventing avoidable tragedies. Finally, the aspca enhances the capacity of local agencies to respond to cruelty and disaster situations by providing them with grant funding, training, and other critical resources. Since the inception of the aspca's disaster response team in 2010, the aspca has responded to more than 81 disasters and assisted over 170,000 animals in crisis. Advancing laws and policies that protect companion animals, horses, and farm animals the aspca works closely with policymakers at the local, state and federal levels to enact meaningful protections for animals while also providing advocacy training and resources for citizens engaging in grassroots lobbying on behalf of animals in need. The aspca's successful legislative and regulatory work assists animals on a large and lasting scale and influences the development of similar legislation and support for it around the country to advance systemic national animal welfare improvement. In 2024, the aspca worked to support state and federal policies aimed at protecting animals and addressing several key issues. Legislative success highlights protecting animals through federal laws in 2024, the industrial agriculture conversion act (iaca) was introduced by representatives alma adams (d-nc) and jim mcgovern (d-ma) in the u.s. House of representatives and senator cory booker (d-nj) in the u.s. Senate. The bill would establish a federal grant program to support farmers seeking to transition from factory farming to pasture-based animal farming or crop production. During 2024 farm bill negotiations, the aspca advocated for the exclusion of the "eats act similar language, which would have undermined state-level animal welfare laws. This language was successfully kept out of the farm bill extension. The senate draft included provisions supporting farm transitions away from factory farming and mandated reporting on depopulation practices. The aspca supported the introduction of goldie's act in the u.s. Senate for the first time. The bill, intended to strengthen usda enforcement of the animal welfare act, was introduced by senators richard blumenthal (d-ct) and rick scott (r-fl). Goldie's act received bipartisan support, including endorsement by the problem solvers caucus and over 100 cosponsors in the house of representatives. In 2024, congress extended the prohibition on horse slaughter facilities operating in the united states for another fiscal year. Additionally, congress continued to fund the bureau of land management's wild horse and burro program, with language directing the implementation of humane fertility control strategies. Legislation preventing wild horses and burros from being killed or sold for slaughter remained in effect. Protecting animals through state laws in florida, the "providing equity in telehealth services (pets) act" was signed into law in june 2024 and took effect on july 1. This law, supported by the aspca, permits pet owners to access certain veterinary services via telehealth technology, reducing the need for in-person visits and improving access to care for animals statewide. In colorado, voters passed proposition 129 to create a licensed veterinary professional associate (vpa) role. Vpas will be licensed by the state veterinary board and permitted to provide routine medical care under veterinary supervision. This measure passed with 53% of the vote in november 2024. Colorado also enacted legislation mandating that local governments include pets in all levels of disaster response planning and designate at least one pet-friendly emergency shelter per locality. This law, supported by the aspca, took effect in april 2024. In washington state, a law was passed to create a grant program for upgrading warming and cooling centers to be pet-friendly and to cover costs associated with transporting people with pets during extreme weather events. In california, voters approved proposition 4, which authorized $10 billion in bonds for climate-related projects, including wildfire prevention. The aspca secured language in the proposal to make projects that retrofit or develop pet-friendly resiliency centers eligible for funding under a designated $60 million allocation. In new york, the "puppy mill pipeline act" went into effect on december 15, 2024, prohibiting the retail sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits in pet stores. This law, supported by the aspca, is intended to disrupt the supply chain from cruel commercial breeding operations to retail sellers. Collaborating with the nypd to combat animal cruelty and neglect in new york city through a groundbreaking and unique partnership, the aspca works closely with the new york city police department (nypd) to prevent and address animal cruelty across the city's five boroughs with services including medical treatment, behavior assessments, forensic evaluations, sheltering, and adoption.